MILAN, MI - Vika Marchenko and Franklyn Rutkowski are a Michigan couple with a love story similar to that of "The Notebook" or "A Walk to Remember."

OK, maybe not that extreme, but a social-media video documenting the Washtenaw County couple's journey recently went viral.

Their story has reached over 4.6 million views on Facebook, thanks to former "Star Trek" actor George Takei, who shared the video on his channel, "George Takei Presents."

Marchenko said she couldn't believe their story is so popular.

"I submitted a summary of our story to 'The Way We Met' on Instagram, so I never expected it to reach as many people as it did," she said. "The lady from the site loved our story, so she must have submitted it to another website on Facebook as well."

The two 26-year-olds dated throughout their teen years at Saline High School, south of Ann Arbor, until graduating in 2010. However, Marchenko said their immaturity at the time had them frequently breaking up and they eventually called it quits for good before each moved out of state.

After hearing lyrics to a song by The Chainsmokers that reminded her of her old boyfriend in 2017, Marchenko reached out to Rutkowski on Facebook.

They texted and spoke on the phone every day after that and could feel their connection growing stronger than ever.

When Rutkowski, who lived in Charleston, South Carolina, was coming back home to visit his family, he had a plane layover in Atlanta, Georgia, where Marchenko lived.

He bought her a ticket just so she could get past security to see him and the two met face-to-face for the first time in seven years. They fell back in love.

Rutkowski proposed two months later at the same airport when he returned and the couple eloped soon after.

"We spent so much time doing some soul searching on our own and we grew into much better people than we were as kids," Marchenko said. "We learned how to take care of ourselves, how to treat others, how we want to be treated in relationships, how to cope and handle difficult situations, how to be patient and understanding in life and love."

Marchenko said she hopes their story is an inspiration to other couples and to people who dream of finding their own happy ever after.

"I truly hope they get out of our story is that it's OK sometimes to part with people who are important to you and it's OK to work on your own personal growth and to try to better your life and yourself while you're young," she said.

The couple recently moved back to the area and reside in Milan, but they plan on traveling across the country the next few years due to Rutkowski's job.

They will be celebrating their marriage with family and friends in Kalamazoo sometime in June, Marchenko said.